FIRST LOOK: BTOOOM! 1-5

It took me some time to finally pick up this series. I'm really not too fond of videogame-turns-into-real-life anime. I did not like CHAOS;HEAD and even now STEINS;GATE is gathering dust in my hard drive. I also dropped Persona Trinity Soul after only a few episodes and I'm ashamed to admit, even the critically acclaimed ones like Ghost in the Shell. Considering my track record, it is really no surprise why I hesitated to watch this series. But to make the long story short, here we are.

BTOOOM! is a show about this 22-year-old guy, Sakamoto Ryouta, who is Japan's top BTOOOM! player and the 10th best player of the game in the world. As great as he is in the virtual world, in real life, Sakamoto is a NEET and rarely leaves his room in the house where he lives with his depressed mother and a jobless father. His excuse for not getting a job is that he has already chosen the kind of job he wants (which is to work for Tyrannus Japan, the game company that developed BTOOOM!), but two years had already passed and he is still in his room, playing the game while waiting for that call.

Then one day, everything changes when Sakamoto suddenly wakes up in a tropical island, with only a day's worth of provisions, a pack of BIMs (small bombs like in the game), and a huge hole in his memory. While trying to figure out what happened, a strange guy suddenly attacks him. To Sakamoto's mounting horror, he realizes that he is essentially playing BTOOOM! in real life and has to kill the other "players" in order to survive and get off that island alive.

It's definitely an interesting show. The island setting reminds me a lot of Battle Royale but for the diversity of the players. In that area, it is a lot more like The Hunger Games minus the post-apocalyptic world view. I don't know how long this show can hold my attention but I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.

Himiko. Although Sakamoto does not know it, he has actually met her character in BTOOOM! the game and even refers to her as his virtual wife. She is a high school girl who may be half-foreigner. Due to a raping incident involving her friends and later herself, she is highly suspicious of men in general.

Taira. He appears as a typical salary man with a jolly personality and self-deprecating humor. He claims not to want to play the game and suggests to Sakamoto that they both team up in order to keep each other safe. But he is smarter than he looks.

Sakamoto Ryouta, the protagonist of the story. He is Japan's top BTOOOM! player and occupies the top tenth spot of the best players all over the world. When his mind is in the game, he can be an extremely good player but his moral compunctions prevent him from finishing off his enemies.

Kira. A 14-year-old sadist who has committed multiple murders in real life before he gets sent to the island. He was abused as a child by his father. On the island, he encounters Sakamoto and they try to take each other out. Sakamoto beat him but did not kill him, leaving him with his BIM packs and bag of food.